“For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love…”- St. Therese of Lisieux
By now some of you have likely come across the New York Times article in which the author, mimicking an experiment by social psychologist Arthur Aron, tries to see if she can fall in love by following a few simple techniques.
Why read a post about mental illness?
Whatever your reason, here are five points that might shift your views on mental illness:
1. Mental illnesses are part of the spectrum of common human experience.
I can’t speak for you, but I know I experience anxiety quite often. I remember anxiety over speaking in high school or asking someone on a first date. Now I feel anxiety when others evaluate my work, or when I have to confront someone I care about. I am sure you have worried about some aspect of your life: “Will we have enough to retire?” “Will the principal judge me if my daughter wears mismatched socks and shoes to school?” “Is there something wrong with me if I see the dress as white and gold?” Anxiety and worry are human experiences, but for some they are debilitatingly intense or pervasive. Read More →
Raising Little Angels is a monthly post about the struggles, joys, confusions, and questions that come with parenting. The tongue-in-cheek title refers to the fact that parenting often feels like anything but an angelic endeavor. After all, we don’t want little angels; we want little saints!
I know some amazing parents (note this sentence! We’ll come back to it). My guess is that the overwhelming majority of parents who read this blog are pretty amazing parents. There is, however, some disagreement, even among amazing parents, on how and whether to praise children. Some parents praise everything their child does: “Talulah! You drank all your milk and ate all of your peas. You’re such a good girl. You’re so good at eating your dinner.” Other parents hold the belief that praising their child for behaviors that they should engage in anyway will create spoiled little monsters. Both praising styles are on to something–the each hold buds of truth. Proper praise motivates children, while the wrong kind of praise causes negative consequences and self-defeating behavior.. More pointedly:Praise is good, but the wrong kind of praise can be harmful. Research by Carol Dweck, a psychologist out of Stanford, helps shed some light on the praise problem.
I’ve sometimes wondered what Lent must look like to a non-religious person:
In this thought experiment, I can imagine the other thinking: “Those people are intentionally causing themselves to suffer. Who does that? All the sane people are trying to avoid and reduce suffering.”
Checking in with myself, I notice that often avoiding suffering is indeed my main motivation. Read More →
“Remember man you are dust and to dust you shall return.”
I always enjoy watching people receive ashes on Ash Wednesday. The average person trods up to the priest slowly, rank and file, hands politely folded in front of them, trying to discern the size of the ash cross they are likely to receive from the priest in whose line they find themselves. Then it happens. The priest takes ashes and smears them on their forehead saying, “Remember man you are dust and to dust you shall return.” What amazes me is how most people (seemingly) react to these words. They don’t—at least not in any discernible, visible manner (which, admittedly, is not to say that they are not having profound interior experiences). People amble back to their seat appearing unmoved by what has just occurred. Read More →
It’s no secret that children growing up in our society face a multitude of challenges. They face the ubiquitous presence of alcohol and drugs, media saturated with sexuality, and a culture that struggles to plausibly stand behind basic values. Not to mention a high likelihood that they will not make it to adulthood with both parents in the same stable marriage. As parents, we want to find ways of shepherding our children through these dangers, and we often go to great lengths to provide worthwhile, productive and affirming experiences.
But who is looking out for the parents? Read More →